Runes

Unknown Section mastery

Intro - What is this all about? Where am I?

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the "unconventional" support list. Before I go any further, I want to explain to you my definition of unconventional.

To me, unconventional is just something that is not used often or sometimes overlooked because of certain qualities. An unconventional support is simply other characters that potentially fulfill the bot lane support position, but are not used often because of their skill set and/or difficulty. These bot lanes are sometimes referred to as 'kill lanes.'

With that out of the way, I can introduce myself. I am an avid gamer, and have been playing league for quite some time now. I come from a competitive FPS background, so switching to a MOBA-style game is quite difficult (although prior DotA experience helps a bit). I love competition, and LoL has plenty of it. As of now, I float around 1550-1640 ELO, with my main being supports. Although I typically don't bring 'unconventional' supports into ranked, I have plenty of experience with them both in and outside ranked games.

The layout for this guide is as follows:

Champion

A little background info/reasoning behind potential support ability

Masteries/Runes

Abilities, and how they contribute to their respective support roles.

Skill order

Build order (Please note there are a LOT of options out there, I will provide as many as I can to consider)

Early/Mid/Late game positioning/role

Major Strengths/Weaknesses

Goes great with [Insert AD carry here] (I usually leave it at the "best 3" of all AD)

A protip for your enjoyment

Video Guide*

(*Only some champions will have videos)

So I'm going to end the intro here, because I know people hate walls of text. Trust me, there's enough of it in this guide.

List of chapters in this guide

So far (in order from top of page to bottom):

Nunu*

Gangplank

Maokai*

Leona

Veigar

Lux

Nidalee

LeBlanc

(* means they have a video associated with them at the bottom of their respective chapter)

And of course, more champions will be added often, as well as video guides!

What summoners are standard?

I gave summoners its own chapter simply because I didn't feel like typing the same thing over and over again. Here we go!

When do I get CV? Well, to be honest, I rarely get this anymore. For passive supports such as Sona, Soraka, etc., I may take this if I'm playing arranged 5v5's. Besides that, I don't take it. Without an organized team, its not effective enough. As an aggressive support, this won't help much other than checking brushes or Dragon/Baron.

I get this a lot when I play aggressive supports such as Maokai, Leona, Gangplank, Nunu, etc. (non-burst). When I grab exhaust, I recommend my AD carry take Heal, so they can survive an engagement better. If my AD carry does not have heal, this is risky. Regardless, popping exhaust on someone after jumping on them is a great way to win a fight. Also, using this defensively to get away from a gank is just as effective. Use it wisely!

Everyone loves flash. I typically grab this all the time, I never like to be without flash. Without stating the obvious, this can get you in or out of a fight quickly and effectively. This can also secure kills easily. Flash is pretty self-explanatory.

I prefer flash over ghost every time. Ghost isn't a bad choice, as it is a great way to catch up to someone over time or run from a potential gank. Once again, ghost is pretty self-explanatory.

I take this occasionally. If my AD carry wants to play passive (which isn't really great when you're aggressive support), heal is the way to go. Double heal in bot lane is also quite powerful in fights, and can really decide who wins. Use this only when you have to, but don't use it willy-nilly on someone who is at 2 hp with ignite on them, or someone who is blatantly dead.

I take this on burst aggressive supports such as Veigar, Lux, LeBlanc, etc. As with exhaust, I only recommend getting this when your AD carry has heal. With burst supports, ignite is a great way to secure kills. The only drawback is that it is not used defensively, at all.

If you wish to roam lanes or try to pick up early kills on overextended opponents, teleport may be a good choice. Taking teleport has a better chance to put you behind your own lane a bit while enhancing the likelihood of winning other lanes. Also, teleport can be used defensively to save someone if you consider supports such as Veigar, where he can put down an AoE stun to save someone.

Nunu, also known as EMPIRE

Background info

Nunu is becoming increasingly popular in bot lane, especially with the whole "EMPIREEEEEE" video (and yes, the TSM ones as well, lol). Nunu's kit is interesting - he's focused around slowing down attack speed of enemy carries but buffing the AS of your own carries. He also has a ranged slow (which is a MASSIVE slow% when maxed) and his classic ult, which can really turn a fight around if done correctly. So sit back and enjoy the Nunu support chapter :)

Please note that masteries and runes for EVERY unconventional support varies greatly by choice, and that you probably won't agree 100% with me on a lot of these decisions. Please don't take this as the most 100% efficient way, take it as the way that I like to play.

Masteries

For masteries I take 0/21/9. I take all the health buff/MS increase ones in the defensive tree, and take the mana per level, mana regen, movespeed, and (1 point in) greed. With 0/21/9, I'm much tankier than basically everyone early, and gives me extra mobility to poke with my E.

If you want to go offensive, you would go 9/21/0, where the 9 in offense would get you the magic pen, and the defensive tree would stay the same.

If you want to get 21 points in utility, I suggest spending the other 9 in the defensive tree. For 21 points in utility, you will get slightly more gold/5, health regen/5, experience rate, and CD reduction. The only thing that I would point out as "REALLY" useful in the utility tree is the CD reduction and the summoner spell cooldown reduction. Besides that, I don't favor it.

Runes

Reds - If you want to go offensive, take magic pen. If you want to go defensive, take armor.

Yellows - I would suggest mana regen (either flat or per level are fine), or the armor ones (flat).

Blues - I would suggest either CD reduction (if you want to spam), flat MR, mana regen, or AP (either flat or per level, but flat are better for winning lane).

Quints - MS is great, Health is good if you want extra tanky-ness, or CD reduction if you want to spam. Flat AP quints also work for early game dominance.

*A quick note on Nunu and my reasoning behind the AP rune choices - Nunu's ratios are ridiculously high, even on his E. Using this to your adv. early game can really decide who wins the laning phase. You hit HARD early, so take advantage!

Consume - Nunu commands the yeti to take a bite out of a target minion or monster, dealing heavy damage to it and healing himself.
Nunu commands the yeti to take a bite out of a minion or monster, dealing 400/525/650/775/900 true damage to the target and healing himself for 125/180/235/290/345 (+1.0 AP).

This is Nunu's free smite, which is really helpful if you are contesting dragon and/or baron. Taking one point in this at level 4 or so is fine if you need a quick heal, but get at least 1 point in it before you attempt drag so you can successfully "smite" it. Combined with a smite from your jungler, you should secure every dragon/baron there is.

Blood Boil - Nunu invigorates himself and an allied unit by heating their blood, increasing their Movement and Attack Speeds.
The heat of Nunu and a target ally's blood rises, increasing Movement Speed by 11/12/13/14/15% and Attack Speed by 25/35/45/55/65% for 15 seconds.

Nunu's blood boil is highly, highly underestimated. Put on an AD carry makes them quite the monster, as well as yourself. Nunu's BB is a viable choice to max over his E early, if you wish. Personally, I take 1 point in it at level 2 and max it first or second.

Nunu's BB can be used to win a trade, chase down enemies, get away from ganks, etc. Use it often, the mana cost is VERY low and provides a lot of utility/dps.

Ice Blast - Nunu launches a ball of ice at an enemy unit, dealing damage and slowing their Movement and Attack Speeds for 4 seconds.
Nunu launches a ball of ice at an enemy unit, dealing 85/130/175/225/275 (+1) magic damage and slowing their Movement Speed by 20/30/40/50/60% and Attack Speed by 25% for 4 seconds.

This is your main harass skill during the laning phase, and is your main "oh, GOTCHA" skill mid/late game. When you hit someone with this early, it does a ton of damage. The AS reduction and MS reduction is somewhat noticeable early game, but the damage is just too good to give up. I max this first sometimes, ESPECIALLY if I have 9 points in offense and/or AP runes.

During mid/late game, this skill is not used for its damage, primarily. It is mainly used for its AS reduction and slow. A well-placed E can catch someone for your team, or completely nullify the enemy AD carry's damage output. This skill has a decent mana cost but is spammable, so take advantage of it. Combined with BB, no one will get away from you. Ever. (Unless its Yi. F U Yi)

Absolute Zero - Nunu begins to sap the area of heat, slowing all nearby enemies. When the spell ends, he deals massive damage to all enemies caught in the area.
Nunu saps the area of heat, channeling up to 3 seconds, slowing surrounding enemy units' Movement Speed by 50% and Attack Speed by 25%.

Enemies caught in the area when the channel ends receive up to 625/875/1125 (+2.5) magic damage, depending on how long the spell was channeled.

EMPIREEEEEEEEEEEEE. The AP ratio on this skill is a ridiculous 2.5 if you hit the full blast. To effectively use this skill, do the following:

-Step into brush.
-Have someone bait at least 1 person (5 is nice, but 1 will do) toward the brush.
-Pop your ult before they even get in range of it.
-Keep your ult running for as long as you can.
-By the time the enemies realize they are in Nunu ult, they're screwed and probably already opened up the shop menu because it's time for...
-EMPIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Honestly though, that's the basic gist of how to use Nunu's ult effectively. If you are forced to, use it in lane to block a potential escape route, but be warned if they have ANY form of CC to cancel your ult. You have been warned. Obviously, max this when you can. The damage is just crazy.

Visionary - Nunu can cast a spell for free after 7 attacks.

Here's your passive. After you slap some kids 7 times, you get a free spell. Woop-de-doo. Take advantage of it, a free E in-lane is great to harass with. Don't push your lane just to proc this, that's a bad thing. Only take it for granted, unless you're THAT focused on getting a free spell. Lol.

I like to start off with and and . I like lots of wards early and some form of mana regen, because I'll be spamming E in lane.

After my AD carry backs (or w/e happens), I get the following: (and/or ) AND LOTS OF
In that order (except the wards, they save lives). You can opt for 3 gp/5 if you want, but I think 2 is plenty. Boots is almost necessary for awesome poke/harass in lane.

After a while, I upgrade my boots either into or or depending on enemy team comp.

After upgrading boots, I upgrade my Philo into .

At this point, you can either upgrade your HoG into if they are AD-heavy, or buy the new Zeke's Herald item (sorry, I couldn't get the image, I'll try later).

Zeke's Herald builds from , which is nice because health and CD reduction on Nunu is a plus. Zeke's is great for AD carries (and bruisers), and used in conjunction with Nunu's BB, your AD carry will look like friggin' Chuck Norris out there.

Other items that you can build on Nunu (either because you don't like what I put above or your game is dragging for 55+ mins): (I like this item) .

Of course, there are almost an infinite number of possibilities (not really, but you get the idea), but I'm going to keep the list short and sweet.

For early game, make sure you keep your river/tri-bush warded for an early gank. Nunu deals a ton of damage with his E, and his W is really good even at level 1. Spam that E, win exchanges, be the poke master. If your AD carry decides to dive in, follow him up. Your E is, as stated, really strong. Just poke constantly and keep everything warded. Poking the AD carry with your E when they go to last hit really discourages them from last hitting near you, so try to put pressure on them so your AD carry can farm more than them.

Mid Game

Your damage from E falls off a bit, but your ult damage is at its strongest. Level 6 and 11 Nunu ult does a ton of damage, and a well-placed one can turn an entire teamfight around easily. Keep everything warded, force dragons with Nunu (because remember, you have a free smite, your Q!), and keep the pressure going. If you want to, you can roam to mid or even top to help out your lanes if need be, but staying with the AD carry is a good idea, especially if they are struggling. Your gp/5 isn't kicking in yet, but it's getting there.

Late Game

All damage, except for your ult, is non-existent unless you're building AP. A good ult will help your team set up their AoE and/or nukes well. Your E may catch someone out of position, which may determine who wins the game. Your BB should be constantly on your AD carry so they do a ridiculous amount of DPS. Nunu can run into the middle of a teamfight if he wants to and just ult, however, saving your E until someone dives your AD carry is smart. Keeping divers off your AD carry should be Nunu's job. If you choose to be offensive during teamfights, E their AD carry so they do virtually no damage over the duration of a teamfight.

Here's a video I made on the basic overview of how to play support Nunu. Yes, I make a ton of mistakes in the video, but I point them out so hopefully YOU can become a better player :)

This is part 1
[own3d]http://www.own3d.tv/video/492334/Nunu_Support_Gameplay__Part_1_2_[/own3d]

Part 2
[own3d]http://www.own3d.tv/video/492399/Support_Nunu_Gameplay__Part_2_2_[/own3d]

Gangplank, the support pirate

Background info

Gangplank (aka Supportplank) is an interesting choice when played bot lane. He has strong poke with his Q, his E is an AoE buff, and his ult is just great for not only helping your AD carry get the kill early, but your ENTIRE team. He is one of the only support champs to have a global ult, which is great if your team chooses to dive/counter-gank a lane early into the game. GP's kit is somewhat similar to Nunu's - stick to your opponent and don't let go. You'll find out why soon enough ~

As noted with every chapter in this guide, you probably will not agree with me 100% on these choices. These are merely suggestions and you can deviate away from my suggested build as much as you like.

Masteries

For masteries I can take a variety of things. If you want to go OFFENSIVE, take 21/9/0. Obviously in the offensive tree you want any AD/lifesteal/damage increase options, while on the defensive tree get some armor, MR, and health. This gives you a strong presence early/mid game, but will fall off late game very hard.

For a more defensive/support-oriented playstyle, take either 9/21/0 or 0/21/9. For 9/21/0 you are giving up some offensive ability for a more tanky, well-rounded playstyle, which is great if they have a bruiser-style team comp. In 0/21/9 you are giving up most of your offense for more sustained poke and beefy-ness.

If you want 21 points in utility, go for it. I find that GP doesn't really benefit from 21 in utility as he does in offense or defense. But if you choose 21 utility, go for it.

Runes

Reds - For offensive, take armor pen/flat AD/crit chance. For defensive, take armor.

Yellows - For offensive AND defensive take flat armor. Mana regen yellows are an OK alternative, although not recommended.

Blues - For any playstyle, I'd recommend flat MR for a tankier GP. Mana regen is an OK alternative. Other blues work that I haven't experimented too much with. If you want crit chance here, go for it.

Quints - For offensive, flat AD or armor pen or crit chance. For defensive take health. For utility take GP/5. (Hehe, GP/5. Nvm.)

*Quick note on my rune choices - GP has high poke, which is his major strength. Utilizing his poke with flat AD/armor pen really gives him great lane dominance early and mid game.

This is GP's main harass/poke skill. Use this as often as you can against anyone you can, preferably squishy targets. Coupled with crit chance, this skill has a high potential to win a lane by itself with a few lucky crits (RNG ftw). If you can successfully poke down someone with this skill, you're winning.

Also, please note it applies GP's passive, slowing whoever you hit down. This means this skill is also great for chasing people with, so use it!

Remove Scurvy - Consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which clears any crowd control effects on him and heals him.
Consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which clears any crowd control effects on him and heals him for 80/150/220/290/360 (+1) health.

Oranges. They're k. Won't be used much in lane, but grabbing one point in this at either level 2 or 4 is helpful if you get caught in a bad situation early/mid. Max this last, you really don't need the health benefit from this skill, only the CC-removal.

Active: Gangplank fires his pistol into the air, disabling his passive boost but increasing his Attack Damage by 12/19/26/33/40 and Movement Speed by 8/11/14/17/20% and nearby allied champions' Attack Damage and Movement Speed by half that amount for 7 seconds.

This is a great mini-buff to hit your team with before a skirmish/teamfight breaks out. Not only will you become slightly more offensive with this skill passively, you can really help your team out a lot by hitting this right before everyone dives in. The extra MS and AD go a long way in a teamfight, especially over the duration of a full 7 seconds.

This skill is also very useful for getting away/chasing someone down. Use it as often as you can when in those situations. In lane, don't spam this. You'll burn mana too quickly.

Cannon Barrage - Gangplank signals his ship to fire upon an area for 6 seconds, slowing enemies and dealing random damage in the area.
Signals Gangplank's ship to fire upon an area for 7 seconds, slowing enemies in the area by 25% for the duration. Cannonballs rain upon the area, each causing 75/120/165 (+0.2) magic damage.

Arguably GP's best support-esque skill, it has a global range. With that being said, watching other lanes/paying attention is super important with GP. Failing to cast this when you had a perfect opportunity to is bad. Let your team know when you hit 6, and tell them to ping a spot rapidly when they fight so you pay attention.

An AoE slow/DoT is great for teamfights and chasing. However, you can try to steal buffs/dragon/even baron if you choose to do so with this skill. Please be aware that this skill isn't 100% reliable in stealing stuff, so don't expect to steal 80% of the stuff you ult. But it is great to put down when your team is ready to go in, provides great pressure/slow.

Grog-Soaked Blade - Gangplank's basic attacks and Parrrley apply a poison that deals magic damage each second and slows movement speed. Lasts 3 seconds and stacks up to 3 times.

This is your passive. His Q applies it, his AA applies it. Abuse the crap out of this when chasing down someone, or if you get in a fight. The DoT from your poison is great, and the slow is extremely beneficial to your AD carry/team. Abuse it!

Last items are any of what you didn't build or the following: or any AD-oriented item such as an I.Edge.

Oh, and you MUST, MUST BUY LOTS OF THESE NO MATTER WHAT: !!!

To start off my game I go with . I'll immediately turn my Charm into . I then want to choose a defensive or offensive path, either taking or , respectively. I then want to get boots 2, either going for more armor, MR, or offense , , or , respectively.

By mid game I want to turn that Philo into , the MS is great! After that I can choose to build , or I go more defensive and get . Another great choice at mid game to consider is , which provides a nice free shield every so often :)

By late game I can get more defensive crap so I'm a tanky guy to deal with such as or , or I can go offensive and grab or another AD-oriented item.

Basically for GP (as well as many of these unconventional supports), a concrete build order isn't possible. Every game is different, and whether you choose to build armor/MR, offensive/defensive/utility is for YOU to decide. Please build as you see fit, I just list items that I find work on support GP quite well.

POKE! You need to spam the crap out of your Q in order to utilize GP's strong poke early. This is what makes GP difficult to lane against for many lane matchups. If you choose to run crit chance, cross your fingers you crit early, because an early crit in-lane can auto-win you the lane if you take advantage of it. If they choose to fight you, you deal quite a bit of damage early, even your poison is a decent source of damage when stacked! Make sure river/side brushes/tri is warded. Always.

Mid Game

This is where teams actually start roaming and other stuff. If your lane is still farming, make sure everything is warded, and expect a lot of pressure from everywhere. Make sure you're paying attention to where everyone is on the map, your ult is precious at this stage of this game. Your poke is doing its maximum damage, and will fall off hard very soon. Try to keep poking everyone you can, pressure buffs/dragons with your ult, and buff your team with your E. After that, you can either choose to try to keep your AD carry alive in a fight or dive for their AD. I personally recommend peeling off a diver from the AD carry, but that's just me. Keep Baron/Dragon warded at all times at this time in the game.

Late Game

Late game is now the point where you do almost no damage, and are a slow/AD boost bot. Keep all major buffs/dragon/baron warded, and do not be afraid to use your ult to try to steal stuff. Also, you can easily pressure baron with your ult as well. Keep divers off your AD carry to the best of your ability, use shurelyas/locket/randuins/etc. at an appropriate time, and play smart. Don't feed here, it could cost your team the game.

-Not great against some sustain supports, aka Soraka/Sona
-Tends to be squishy mid/late game
-Melee
-Needs to sacrifice defense for better poke early, leaving him vulnerable to ganks/aggression in-lane
-Mana costs for E and spamming Q is high, can go OOM very quickly if not watched
-Needs to keep an eye on all lanes at all times for proper use of ult, which is difficult with an uncoordinated team
-Ult is unreliable in damage
-Crit chance is heavily relied upon early game

Have fun with Supportplank! (Protip: /D on someone's body when you kill them in-lane)

Maokai, the natural support

Background info

Maokai is typically seen in the jungle, even sometimes in lane such as top. However, support Maokai isn't all that bad, as he provides sustain for himself (a little bit) and an insane amount of CC/damage reduction. Maokai's true strength relies on how well his teammates play - proper execution of a gank/follow up after you snare someone is crucial to winning as support Maokai. With his slight knockup, ranged root, ranged harass and AoE damage reduction/damage return, he is truly a force to be reckoned with.

For masteries I typically go 21 in defense, with either 9 in offense or 9 in utility, whatever you prefer. The reasoning behind 21 in the defensive tree is because Maokai gets up close and personal to his opponents in every fight. With that being said, you want to be as tanky as possible so you're not insta-gibbed when you go to root someone.

0/21/9 or 9/21/0 are the only two I really recommend for Maokai. Everything else isn't as useful, IMO. If you want to experiment with 21 in utility or 15 defense and 15 utility/offense, go for it.

Runes

Reds - For offensive, take magic pen. For defensive, take flat armor.

Yellows - I would recommend flat armor for any path. If you want, you can choose mana regen.

Blues - I recommend flat MR, but mana regen works fine.

Quints - Either flat AP if you want some offense, GP/5 for utility, or move speed. MS is actually really useful, surprisingly.

*A word about my choices - Maokai is meant to be build tanky, so do it! Magic pen/flat AP can help with his damage, but remember, you're only going to do good damage early/mid. You're more of a CC-bot than anything.

Arcane Smash - Maokai knocks back nearby enemies with a shockwave, dealing magic damage and slowing them.
Maokai releases an arcane shockwave. Nearby enemies are knocked back and all affected enemies take 70/115/160/205/250 (+0.4) magic damage and are slowed by 20/27/34/41/48% for 2 seconds.

This ability is fantastic for keeping someone in place after your root (W) is up. You'll be spamming this a lot in team fights, and you can opt to max this first if you feel you get in constant balls-deep engagements instead of poking. Also deals a fair bit of damage early and mid game, so make use of it! Great for engagements, ganks, and counter ganks! :D

Twisted Advance - Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.
Maokai transforms into a cloud of arcane energy that quickly travels to a target enemy, deals 80/115/150/185/220 (+0.8) magic damage and roots it for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 second(s).

This is your root. Use it wisely, because using this puts you in the middle of a fight, similar to Alistar's headbutt (kinda). This skill is extremely valuable when chasing, but not much of a help if you're getting ganked/running. I take a point in this at either level 2 if I want to be super-aggressive, or at level 4 if for w/e reason I want my Q first. I prefer getting this at level 2. I max this skill last, it is only used for its root, not the damage.

With this skill, you can roam as Maokai if you wish. A roam maokai doesn't do much damage, however, provides great CC and sets up kills very easily. But remember, when you use it, you're now in the middle of the fight!

Sapling Toss - Maokai flings a sapling that deals area damage on impact. The sapling then wards the nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks enemies with an arcane blast.
Maokai flings a sapling that deals 40/75/110/145/180 (+0.4) magic damage on impact.

The sapling wards the nearby area, and will chase enemies that approach, exploding to deal 80/130/180/230/280 (+0.6) magic damage. Saplings last for 35 seconds.

This is your main poke. The sapling is great for poke, as it does great base damage w/o any AP items. If your lane opponents are low, use this skill to zone them, they certainly don't want to aggro a sapling toward them. This skill is used either after you root or you can lead with this skill THEN root someone, then Q them. Landing this skill by itself is rather difficult and will take a bit of time to get used to. I get a point in this skill at level 1 (it's great for checking bushes!) and max it first for maximum poke.

Vengeful Maelstrom - Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. When Maokai ends the effect, he unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.
Toggle: Maokai creates a magical vortex that protects him and allied champions by reducing damage from non-turret sources by 20%.

Maokai can end the effect to release the stored energy, dealing 100/150/200 (+0.5) (+2 per damage absorbed) magic damage to enemies within the vortex. Maokai can store up to 200/250/300 bonus damage.

Your ult is deceiving, to say the least. Not enough people understand Maokai's ult to its full extent. Putting this ult down when you set up a gank, or in a teamfight, is crazy good. It absorbs 20% of all non-turret damage, which is fantastic in that regard. After it absorbs all that damage, it releases a base damage + portion of the damage back to everyone in the AoE, and it is a TON at level 6 and 11. Don't underestimate the damage behind this ult - it is truly a game changing skill.

Also, the CD for this skill is fairly low, so don't be afraid to use it!

Sap Magic - Each time a spell is cast near Maokai he draws energy from it, gaining a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges his next melee attack energizes Maokai, healing him for 7% of his max HP.

This passive is crazy good later into the game. Early/Mid game during the laning phase, you won't get much use out of it. However, in a teamfight, this skill will be up EVERY auto-attack. This is what makes Maokai so tanky and durable in teamfights, his ability to sustain is crazy good. Always be auto attacking in teamfights in between cooldowns, so you make full use of this passive. You're not as squishy as you look with this.

For Maokai, you can max either one of two skills first - his E, or his Q. The reasoning behind this is, if you are constantly in fights where the enemy hard engages, or your team is hard engaging, maxing Q first is much more beneficial due to its reduced cool down at higher levels. If your team is playing "normally" or you have a strong poke comp, max your E first. This is great for harass early/mid, and great for checking bushes at all times in the game.

To start off the game I do the typical . I then turn charm into and grab . Boots are incredibly helpful on Maokai, he needs to get in range before he can root! After boots 1, I get a then finish my boots into if they have a lot of m.damage or CC, or if they are AD-heavy.

By mid game, I want to turn my Philo stone into . After this, Maokai's core kit is complete. You can now get any AoE-based items your team needs.
If your AD needs a bit of help with damage, or your team is AD-heavy, grab .
If your team is struggling to kill their AD carry or heavy AD-based enemy team, grab or .
If you want to be more tanky and still help out the team, grab or or

Please note that you probably won't finish much after your core build - everything's so expensive for supports :(

The main reasoning behind Maokai's core build is that he wants to be moderately tanky and have great mobility, which is what that build provides. Everything else is more or less a bonus item for Maokai, but making sure it benefits the team is extremely important, as you won't be buying many of these bonus items.

You can go aggressive or passive-poke here. If you choose to go aggressive, make sure your AD carry is ready to follow up on your roots and knock ups, because if they don't, its going to be 1v2 against YOU. Only go aggressive build/skill order if you know you can win your lane - giving bot lane an early advantage over you is not a good thing when playing Maokai.
If you choose to play passive, your E will hurt them quite a bit during the laning phase. Try not to position your E on top of creeps, as stealing the CS from the AD carry/pushing the lane is a no-no. When you harass with E, try to only hit the champion and not creeps, or throw your sapling toward an area where you don't want them walking toward. For instance, if you notice the enemy AD going to last hit a minion, toss a sapling at the spot!
Make sure tribush/river is warded.

Mid Game

Your damage will be at its peak at this stage in the game. Take advantage of this! Maokai does an ungodly amount of damage with his ult charged, which can really scare off quite a lot of people. Make sure you're not diving anyone without proper followup from teammates. Keep using your E to poke, don't be afraid to use your ult, and keep dragon warded and try to force a few. Dragon is very important at this stage in the game, so don't give it up for free! Also, keep Baron warded. An early baron is an extreme advantage.

Late Game

This is where Maokai needs to be careful. A bad engage from Maokai means you lose. Know when your team wants to fight, know where the enemy team is. If you can catch someone out of position with Shurelyas + W, go for it. But other than that, try to play it safe with your team. Remember to put your ult down in teamfights, it negates a TON of damage! Make sure Baron stays warded 24/7, you should have an oracles if warding becomes a problem. Dragon isn't super-important, but if you can keep it under control, go for it.
In a teamfight here, you can CC the enemy AD carry all you want, or you can try to keep people off your own AD carry. Maokai excels at keeping people away from your team, so if you choose to play defensive rather than offensive, that's perfectly fine.

-Great harass early/mid game
-Can become very tanky mid/semi-late game
-Has a ton of CC (Spamable Q, W)
-Ult is one of the most underrated ults in the game
-Super fun to play
-Can check brushes without fear (E)
-Has self-sustain
-Great damage potential as soon as he hits 6 and 11

Weaknesses

-Has to throw himself into a teamfight when he wants to CC
-Doesn't do great damage late game, nor very early game
-Will follow someone with his W when target flashes away, which usually results in bad things
-Melee
-Relies on core build to be useful
-Poke is hard to land at times
-Has to know when to engage, can throw game easily
-Ult takes a ton of mana to keep up

With that being said, enjoy your all-natural support, Maokai! (Protip: Don't try to blend into the trees when roaming enemy jungle, this isn't DotA)

Leona, the radiant support

Background info

Leona has to be one of the most aggressive support champs in bot lane. Her kit has 2 hard CC, a mini-stun/gap closer, an AoE slow, and an AoE shield that beefs up her own armor/MR while it is active. While Leona has no sustain in lane, the kill potential in bot lane goes up drastically when Leona is there. Not only can you secure a kill for a jungler when they gank, you can just as easily get a kill in-lane. Her passive also somewhat scary, as the bonus damage from it can really add up.

For masteries I highly, highly recommend taking 21 in defense. Leona is all about getting up in your face, so being tanky is a must. You can choose to take 9 in offense or utility, depending on what you like. I like utility on Leona, as I'm not looking for more damage in the offensive tree. Leona has no means of poking, so being tanky is necessary.

Runes

Reds - Flat armor is recommended, you can take magic pen if you really want more damage.

*A note on the choices here - I choose a super-tanky build for Leona, and I like to keep it that way. Leona is, once again, not meant to do damage, rather she is meant to stay in the fight for as long as possible so you really bring out her effectiveness. Leona doesn't really need that much mana regen, as all her mana costs are fairly low.

Shield of Daybreak - Leona uses her shield to perform her next autoattack, dealing bonus magic damage and stunning the target.
Leona's next autoattack deals an additional 40/70/100/130/160 (+0.3) magic damage and stuns the target for 1.25 seconds.

This ability is great - a melee stun. Once maxed, it has a decent cooldown, meaning you'll be able to use it AT LEAST 2 times in a fight. A 1.25 second stun may not sound like much, but it's worth it. Used in conjunction with her other CC abilities and she turns into this stun monster. Also, this ability has little mana cost, so feel free to abuse it :)

I max this ability second.

Eclipse - Leona raises her shield to gain Armor and Magic Resistance. When the duration first ends, if there are nearby enemies she will deal magic damage to them and prolong the duration of the effect.
Leona raises her shield to gain 30/40/50/60/70 bonus Armor and Magic Resistance for 3 seconds. When the effect ends, she deals 60/110/160/210/260 (+0.4) magic damage to nearby enemies and prolongs the effect for a bonus 3 seconds if any enemies are struck.

This ability really boosts Leona's defensive capabilities. With this on, she's gaining (when maxed) 70 Armor/MR, which is crazy in the middle of a fight. The damage is also somewhat good, as it is AoE damage, not single target. Popping this ability right before you run into a fight is a great idea, however, the duration isn't forever. Please note when the shield is down, as you lose quite a bit of your tankyness when that occurs. I max this ability first.

Other than that, this ability also has little mana costs, so feel free to use it whenever you like.

Zenith Blade - Leona projects a solar image of her sword, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be briefly immobilized and Leona will dash to them.
Leona projects a solar image of her sword, which deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+0.4) magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be briefly immobilized and Leona will dash to them.

Leona's gap closer. This ability will latch Leona onto the farthest target she hits, meaning that if you manage to hit two enemies, you'll latch onto the one further away. This ability is great for initiations, but be careful! Using this ability prematurely will result in you in the middle of the enemy team with no backup. *Gulp*

Again, this ability has little mana costs, feel free to use it whenever, but be careful who you hook onto! I max this ability last.

Solar Flare - Leona calls down a beam of solar energy, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Enemies in the center of the area are stunned, while enemies on the outside are slowed.
After a brief delay, Leona calls down a beam of solar energy to deal 150/250/350 (+0.8) magic damage and slow enemies by 80% for 1.5 seconds. Enemies in the center of the effect are stunned instead of slowed.

Leona's ult is crazy good if properly executed. It slows all enemies in an AoE by 80%, and stuns anyone in the middle for 1.5 seconds, which is crazy good as you can stun/slow multiple enemies in a teamfight with this. To properly land this ability, you should E + Q to an enemy first. Right as the Q duration is expiring, use this ability on top of them. This way, you keep them stunlocked for a good 3 seconds.

You can also use it to stop someone from getting away or to prevent yourself getting killed from a gank, but is much harder to land in these scenarios. Learn how to predict enemy movement, and learn this ability's delay time from casting.

This ability is really, really underestimated. Every skill you use applies this sunlight mark to enemies, although they do not stack. Having your AD carry (or anyone after the laning phase) proc at least 2-3 of these marks after your full combo is damage well placed. If you can proc all 4 marks of sunlight from a full combo (E - Q - R - W), it's a ridiculous amount of bonus damage. I don't have the exact numbers, but it's enough. Trust me.

Leona is pretty straightforward with skills - Maxing your shield for super tankyness, then maxing your Q to reduce its cooldown, then maxing your E. There is an alternative, however. You can opt to max your Q if you want low cooldown on your melee stun, but you give up your tankyness in exchange for more CC over time.

For early game, I start with the standard . If you have the extra gold mastery, you can get more wards or more potions, your pick.

Early game goal is to turn that into and grab and .

Mid game goal (or late early) is to turn my into or , depending on what I need. I also want to turn my into .

After that, you're free to buy whatever you think your team needs! This is basically a copy + paste from the Maokai section:
If your AD needs a bit of help with damage, or your team is AD-heavy, grab .
If your team is struggling to kill their AD carry or heavy AD-based enemy team, grab or .
If you want to be more tanky and still help out the team, grab or or

The reasoning behind Leona's build is straightforward - provide extra mobility to your team, and get those AoE items! You're going to be in the middle of a fight, so those AoE items will become very useful very quickly. Also, stacking armor/MR on Leona, unlike other supports, isn't a huge priority. Her W provides plenty for a short amount of time, so you're allowed to put that off until later if you choose so.

Very early game (pre-level 3) you can't do much. You can invade with Leona quite well if you're willing to flash stun someone, but other than that Leona isn't much of a help. She doesn't become effective until she hits level 3, when she has her Q + W + E combo up. When you hit level 3, if coupled with an aggressive AD carry, go for the kill. Try to keep the other AD carry on their toes and make them worry about last hitting so that yours can farm safely. Make sure all bushes stay warded that need to stay warded, make sure you have a general idea of where their jungler is, and keep the pressure high in lane. If you can't pull off an early kill, you may be able to when Leona hits 6. As soon as you hit level 6, coordinate another engagement in lane, and see if you can pick up the kill (of course, don't go full-retard mode).

Mid Game

Mid game is where everyone starts roaming, which Leona does quite well. If you choose to roam and try to pick up kills for other lanes, make sure you're confident you can land your full combo. A full combo from Leona plus damage from the mid/top/bot lane and possibly jungler usually results in a fast kill. Keep dragon warded at all times, and if a teamfight breaks out, keep their AP/AD stunlocked. Also, Leona is excellent at catching people out of position, so don't be afraid to use your ult at a long range to try to catch someone - it may just turn the game around! Be sure to use your Shurelyas when you can.

Late Game

Late game Leona does no damage (kinda obvious) and becomes a CC-bot. Your main priority in late game is to keep all major objectives warded, such as Baron, buffs, and Dragon. In a teamfight, go for their AP caster if they haven't used their full combo. If they have, try to zone their AD carry out of a fight. Leona excels at keeping people out of a fight for extended periods of time. You can also choose to play defensive and keep any divers off your AD carry, which Leona also does well. Remember to use all your AoE actives during a teamfight, they can mean the difference between winning and losing!

-Forces self into the middle of a fight to be effective
-Somewhat reliant on items
-Can't facecheck bushes real well
-Melee
-Low damage output
-Her gap closer can put you in a bad spot
-Easily focused down/kited
-Gap closer is somewhat hard to land
-Skillshot reliant on ult
-Needs great timing/game sense to pull off correctly

After this long wall of text, you've made it through the Leona chapter! Congrats! Enjoy your new CC-heavy support, Leona! (Protip: When the enemy tries to back at tower, use your ult on them just to piss them off. Trust me.)

Veigar - the tiny master of supporting

Background info

Veigar is the definition of a 'kill lane.' His damage output is very high, and has a great AoE stun that is super useful at all times in the game. Although you won't be building super-AP like a normal mid Veigar, the burst potential at level 6 is enough to win your lane. Veigar's stun, however, is useful all game and can be used a great way of catching people out of position, getting out of a bad spot, or coordinating it with chain AoE (such as Galio's ult, Fid ult, etc).

For masteries I like to play super offensive with Veigar, therefore I will go 21 in offense to beef up my damage in lane. Of course, all the offensive masteries I take will be related to magic pen, AP, or overall damage increase. For the extra 9 points, I can put them in utility for mana regen, or in the defensive tree for a bit more durability. Personally I take 9 points in utility for mana regen.

This leaves me with 21/0/9.

Runes

Reds - I take magic pen. With Veigar, there really is no 'defense' option as you WANT to secure kills early and fast before you're useless.

Yellow - I take mana regen (you can choose flat or per level, I prefer flat).

Blues - I get either flat AP or AP/level.

Quints - Flat AP.

*A word about my choices - as stated, there is really no 'defense' option for Veigar. Personally, I believe playing Veigar defensively is a huge waste of potential, and I like to try to secure kills or push my lane opponents out of CS range fast. With magic pen, flat AP and AP/level, and mana regen, I can spam some skills and do good damage. Simple as that.

Passive: Veigar gains 1/2/3/4/5 Ability Power when he kills a champion from any source of damage.

For an AP mid Veigar this skill is very valuable, however, for support Veigar it doesn't have as much purpose. Since you do not want to take the AD carry's farm, I only get one point in this at level 3 or 4 so I can CS just a little bit if my AD carry is going to miss one or decides to recall. I max this either second or last, depending on the situation.

Dark Matter - Veigar calls a great mass of dark matter to fall from the sky to the target location, dealing magic damage when it lands.
After 1.2 seconds, dark matter falls from the sky to the target location, dealing 120/170/220/270/320 (+1) magic damage.

This. This is your 'WTF DAMAGE' skill. For support Veigar, I max this first. It may sound silly, but this is what gives support Veigar his crazy burst potential in lane. In a support role, you don't need to hit your stun before you use this ability every time - you simply need to know when they're going to go for a CS, then put it down. This way, they take a ton of damage if they decide to go for a CS, or get zoned out.

With a 1.0 scaling on AP and an incredible base damage, this skill is really what gives Veigar that nuke feel.

Event Horizon - Veigar twists the edges of space around the target location for 3 seconds, stunning enemies who pass through the perimeter for a short duration.
Veigar twists the edges of space around the target location for 3 seconds, stunning enemies who pass through the perimeter for 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 seconds.

This skill truly defines support Veigar. I grab this skill first, especially if we are invading or looking for an early kill in lane. At level 1, it is an AoE 1.5 second stun, which is incredible. Good placement of this skill is key and is hard to master. You want to put the edge right on top of the enemy so they have no way of avoiding the stun. This skill also sets up ganks very easily, and usually secures kills in a matter of seconds.

Combined with your W, this skill is both extremely useful and deadly. I can max this second or last, depending on the situation.

Here is another 'WTF DAMAGE' skill. Although not as useful against a bot lane matchup, it still gets the job done. I get a point in this whenever I can, and I'll use it whenever we go for a kill. With a 1.2 AP scale and a decent base, this skill will really hurt early and mid game.

Also, this is where the typical 'supports don't do any damage late game' saying can falter. Late game, you can choose to nuke their AP before they nuke your team. Although you may not kill them, your ult will really, really hurt.

Equilibrium - Veigar's mana regen is increased by 0.75% for each 1% of mana missing.

This skill is actually somewhat useful for support Veigar. This synergizes well with mana regen runes and masteries as well. Although you won't really feel it early game, mid game is where this passive really kicks in. With this, you can do a moderate amount of spamming in lane while maintaining a healthy mana pool.

Veigar, unlike other supports, is not as straightforward with his skill order. He can be assigned skills in a variety of ways, depending on user preference. Below is my own preference after playing him quite a bit.

My recommendation:

> > >

OR

> > >

Level 1 - I grab my E (really good for invades, btw)
Level 2 - Grab W
Level 3 - Grab either Q or W
Level 4 - I can get whatever I didn't get in level 3, or I can get another point in E. This way, I get a slightly longer stun time for better placement of skills from myself and AD carry.
Level 5 - W
Level 6 - R

Then follow skill priority order as shown above.

I'm sorry if the above looks confusing. The basic idea is that I only get one point in Q early, and can potentially grab two points in E just for a 'failsafe' stun duration time. I'm maxing my W first, and prioritize R whenever I can.

For early game, I typically go . I then want to either rush my or finish my . I then can grab my .

By mid game, I want to aim for my as fast as I can. This way I have a TON of burst potential while still maintaining that support feel. If you finish DFG, you can build any of the optional nuke items listed above.

After that, you can try to keep up your damage with AP items, or you can build defensive AP items and see your damage slightly fall off as the game goes on. Remember, your ult can melt AP carries even if you don't have that much AP!

As you can see, Veigar is full offense. Little to no defense on Veigar. Remember to always buy wards and play smart. Veigar is very squishy when built this way, so he needs patience and good positioning and coordination to do well. You should be able to really cripple their support/AD carry up until around level 11 or so, so take advantage of that.

Very early game, Veigar has a decent kill potential. With his E + WQ, he should be able to deal a nice amount of damage. If you're at your tower, try to stun them in tower range for an easy kill. If you're at their tower and you don't have much warded, you may want to save your stun in case of a gank. Always keep river warded unless you're shoved to tower. At level 5 and 6, Veigar has a really high kill potential, especially when combined with a gank from your jungler. Try to coordinate something and go for the kill. At level 6, you will be doing your peak damage (until DFG) all game. Go for that kill, but try to keep your AD carry safe at the same time. Don't take too much harass before you go for the kill.

Mid Game

Mid Game, Veigar will be doing a lot of damage when combined with DFG. With Veigar, you can choose to roam around and set up kills for your team, which is something Veigar excels at. Remember to always keep Dragon and even Baron warded at this stage in the game. Veigar can put down a lot of pressure if the other team decides to force dragon or baron. Also make good use of your AoE stun, it can secure kills left and right. Also don't forget to use your DFG! In a teamfight, try to nuke down any target you can before you exit the battle. Keeping the AD carry alive as Veigar is hard, so just try to nuke down any divers or any squishes you can before you get out.

Late Game

Late Game, Veigar's damage somewhat falls off. He still has good burst potential, but possibly not enough to melt their AD/AP carry with. You can try to give their AP carry a hard time in a teamfight by using everything you have on them, but besides that, Veigar is primarily used for his stun late game. Keep Baron/Dragon warded at all costs, and apply pressure everywhere you can. Try to catch someone out of position with your stun, it can turn the entire game around.

-Huge burst potential
-Good form of CC
-Ranged
-More of a 'kill lane' champion, can get fed early
-Super fun to play
-Good counter to AP heavy teams
-Great for stopping ganks/tower dives
-Can roam and secure kills easily

Weaknesses

-Squishy
-Can only go through combo once for good damage
-Relies on items heavily to secure kills
-Hard to place a good stun
-Bad against AD heavy teams
-Difficult mana costs ... hurts early game
-Can't facecheck brushes ... at all

Well, that's about it for Veigar! He takes a little longer to master and requires a bit more patience, so allow him to take up a lot of your time before you get "good" with him! Enjoy your new super-aggressive support! (Protip: If you want to piss off your jungler, steal his blue early with your W and then proceed to say 'but I'm the carry!')

Lux - supporting the double rainbow

Background info

Lux is used more often than other 'kill lanes' simply because she can get the job done without even being touched. Unlike other aggressive supports, she does not need to be even remotely close to her target to set her team up for a kill on them. With a multi-target bind, AoE slow, shield and low CD high base damage ult, she combines safety and aggressiveness in one kit.

For masteries I can choose more of a utility build or offensive build. For utility, grab 9/0/21 or 16/0/14.
For offensive, grab 21/9/0 or 21/0/9.
These choices are all preference - whether you like more mana regen, more durability, or more damage. All up to you. The 4 listed here are what I would recommend.

Runes

Reds - For offensive, magic pen. For defensive, flat armor.

Yellows - For offensive get mana regen. For defensive take flat armor. (If you run flat armor yellows, I do not recommend running flat armor reds)

Blues - For offensive take either flat AP or AP/level. For defensive take mana regen or flat MR.

Quints - Offensive take flat AP. Defensive take Movespeed or GP/10.

*A note about my choices - Lux can, as you can see, be built offensively or defensively. I sometimes like to mix and match where I run magic pen reds, flat armor yellows, mana regen blues, and flat AP quints. But for full offense or defense, follow above. Lux has decent AP ratios and I like to try to secure kills early for my lane opponent, as Lux won't be doing much late game unless fed.

Light Binding - Lux releases a sphere of light that binds and deals damage to up to two enemy units.
Fires a ball of light towards a target location, binding and damaging up to 2 enemy units. The first target takes 60/110/160/210/260 (+0.7) magic damage and is bound for 2 seconds. The second target receives 50/50/50/50/50% of the effect.

This is a crucial part of Lux. When cast, it hits up to two enemies and holds them still for two FULL seconds. That's enough to let your Kog'maw nuke them with his W, your Caitlyn hit her Q, your Trist jump on them, etc. Her bind is fantastic for both chases and escapes, as it has a large range to it. Get used to leading enemies with it, and you'll be hitting all your binds in no time.

I get a point in this at level 1 and max it second.

Prismatic Barrier - Lux throws her wand and bends the light around any friendly target it touches, protecting them from enemy damage.
Lux throws her wand to the target location and back, protecting herself and all allied champions it touches from 80/105/130/155/180 (+0.35) damage for seconds.

This ability is only 'meh' for most, if not all engagements. Try to focus on shielding whoever needs it and not yourself, as it will automatically give you the shield twice. Landing a 'double shield' on an ally may make the difference in who wins, the level 1 shield is decent if you can land it twice (160 base total). I grab a point in this at either level 3 or 4, and max it last.

Lucent Singularity - Fires an anomaly of twisted light to an area, which slows nearby enemies. Lux can detonate it to damage enemies in the area of effect.
Creates a zone that slows enemy units by 20/24/28/32/36% (zone lasts 5 seconds). Can be detonated to damage enemies in the area for 60/105/150/195/240 (+0.6) magic damage.

Lux's E is quite useful in many situations and does a fair amount of damage in an AoE. It has a deceptive amount of range to it as well, so don't be afraid that you're out of range for this skill, you probably aren't. Using this before or after you bind an enemy for more damage is key to combo'ing on Lux. I typically put this down first so I can hit my bind more easily, as the slow % really helps with chasing down/getting away from enemies.

Also, putting this in brushes reveals the area its in. Use this to facecheck brushes! Yay!

I get a point in this at level 2 and max it first.

Finales Funkeln - After gathering energy, Lux fires a beam of light that deals damage to all targets in the area. In addition, triggers Lux's passive ability and refreshes the Illumination debuff duration.
After a short delay, Lux fires a stream of light in front of her, dealing 300/400/500 (+0.75) to all enemy units in the area. In addition, ignites the target for Illumination damage if under its effect, and refreshes the Illumination debuff.

This is what makes Lux, Lux. Do you see that number right there? 300 base +.75 AP scaling? That's a CRAZY amount of damage at level 6 when combined with your EQ (not including passive damage)! Her ult also has a low CD, so you can spam this honestly as much as you want, as long as you're not pushing your lane too hard b/c you decided to fire it through the entire minion wave. As soon as you hit 6, make something happen. This is the strongest Lux will be all game.

This passive is quite useful in poking down enemies. For example, if the AD carry goes to last hit, hit him with your E then auto attack, and you just did a nice amount of damage. Your ult will proc this passive and put it back on enemy champions when you hit them, which just adds to the crazy amount of raw burst Lux has at level 6. If you can't AA the proc, don't worry. Don't go too far out of the way to proc it, you may just hurt yourself in doing so.

For early game, I run the standard . I then want to rush my . I then proceed to get and . Then I want to upgrade my boots into .

For mid game, I want to complete my . After that, I can choose to build any of the listed 'bonus items.'

You should notice that Lux is built offensively early game, then builds defensively (like a support) mid/late game. This is because at this point in the game, you won't be doing a ton of damage and you lose your 'burst-like' presence in teamfights.

Early game Lux, like many aggressive supports, has high kill potential. With a two second bind and an AoE slow, you may be able to score an early kill. Try your best to coordinate something at level 2 or 3 if you can. If you can't, wait until you hit 6. Try harassing the AD carry with your E as much as you can, and disrupt their last hitting. When you hit 6, coordinate another engagement. With Lux's burst on top of your AD carry's, you should be able to kill at least their support. Don't take too much harass or waste too much mana, keep an eye on your mana pool so you can combo correctly. Make sure river/tri-brushes stay warded at all times.

Mid Game

Mid game Lux is where your damage will slowly start falling off and you turn into more of a support role. Like many other aggressive supports, you can roam for kills if your AD carry doesn't need help in lane. However, if you choose to stay in lane, keep doing the same thing you were doing early game by pressuring their AD carry when they last hit. Make sure Dragon and river and all choke points (such as jungle ramps) stay warded, lots of roaming occurs at mid game.

Late Game

Late game Lux is only used for her bind (and partly her ult), which is why you build AoE aura items to benefit your team. Hopefully Baron and Dragon are warded at this stage in the game. Try to catch someone out of position with your E and Q, Lux has incredible range so it may be quite easy to do so. In teamfights, position yourself way back and try to hit as many enemies as you can with your AoE. Lux can't really peel off divers from herself or AD carry, so make sure you use your shield and attempt to bind divers if you can.

That should do it for support Lux, I think! Personally, I'm still working on Lux, as I'm not the greatest at landing binds. She requires a bit of patience before you can land her full combo properly, so give Lux a shot and see if you do well! (Protip: After killing ANYTHING, spam your laugh. It helps boost morale)

Nidalee - two forms of support

Background info

Nidalee isn't all too uncommon, although she lacks popularity for a few reasons. When played in bot lane as a support, she's alright. She provides a little bit of everything (except CC), which is nice. Having an all-around unconventional support is a nice break from full-out offensive powerhouses such as Veigar, Leona, etc.

Yellows - For offensive, take mana regen. For defensive run flat armor. For utility run GP/10.

Blues - For offensive take flat AP (if you go AP). For defensive (or if you build AD), take flat MR or mana regen.

Quints - For offense, take flat AD or flat AP. For defense, take movespeed. For utility, take GP/10.

*Quick word about my choices - obviously you can see that building Nidalee offensively has two different directions - AP or AD. AP is more for "OMG WTF DMG SPEAR" and AD is for more being in-the-fight style. I prefer AD, but go w/e you want. GP/10 isn't a bad choice on Nidalee since she won't be farming.

Javelin Toss / Takedown - In human form, Nidalee throws a spiked javelin at her target that gains damage as it flies. As a cougar, her next attack will attempt to fatally wound her target, dealing more damage the less life they have.
Human: Nidalee tosses her javelin, dealing 55/95/140/185/230 (+0.65) magic damage on impact (deals up to 250% damage the farther away the target is).

Cougar: Nidalee's next attack deals additional damage based on how low her opponent's life is.

In human form, her spear is nasty when building AP. A 2.5 damage multiplier on a .65 ap scaling is a ton of damage at max range, so if you're building AP, abuse this. For AD, this skill is near useless. It will only be helpful mid game. I grab a point in this at 4 and max it second.

In cougar form, her Q is nasty for when building AD. Based on the amount of health missing, it is a high base amount of damage with decent AD scaling and up to a 3.0x multiplier, which is insane. Even without building AD, her Q does a nasty amount of damage early/mid game, so make sure to use this when in cougar form!

Bushwhack / Pounce - In human form, Nidalee lays a damaging trap for unwary opponents that, when sprung, reveals the target and reduces their armor and magic resistance for 12 seconds. As a cougar, she pounces forward, dealing a small amount of damage when she lands. Pounce is not affected by cooldown reduction.
Human: Nidalee lays a trap that deals 80/125/170/215/260 (+0.4) magic damage over 2 seconds, reveals the target, and reduces their armor and magic resistance by 20/25/30/35/40% for 12 seconds. Traps last for 4 minutes.

In human form, her trap is essential for checking bushes/keeping yourself safe. Also, it reduces %-based armor/MR, which is great late game against tanks. Many people forget about this aspect of her W, and can really, really help in a teamfight (it's a full 12 second armor/MR reduction!). Good for both AD and AP style builds, I grab a point in this at level 1 and max it last.

In cougar form, this is your "Nyan cat" ability. A very short CD leap forward is great for mobility, and does a fair amount of base damage in a small AoE. This is good when building AP, and only used for its early/mid game burst/mobility for AD builds.

Primal Surge / Swipe - In human form, Nidalee channels the spirit of the cougar to heal her allies and imbue them with attack speed for a short duration. As a cougar, she rapidly claws enemies in front of her.
Human: Nidalee heals an allied champion for 50/85/120/155/190 (+0.7) and grants them a 20/30/40/50/60% attack speed for 7 seconds.

Cougar: Nidalee claws at enemies in front of her.

In human form, this is what Nidalee is made a support for. A decent heal and an attack speed bonus for 7 seconds on an AD carry is definitely worth it. The only thing to mention here is that it scales off AP and the mana cost is nasty, so don't spam it. I grab a point in this at level 2 and max it first.

In cougar form, this is your AoE "swipe" style ability. It's good when building AP, only used for early/mid game burst when building AD.

Aspect Of The Cougar - Nidalee transforms herself into a cougar, gaining new abilities and increased movement speed in the process.
Human: Nidalee transforms into a vicious cougar, gaining 10/20/30 Armor and Magic Resist, 20 Movement Speed, and her basic abilities become Takedown, Pounce, and Swipe.

Cougar: Nidalee transforms back into human form.

Self-explanatory. You gain move speed, some MR/armor, and switch roles. Just remember that any cougar ability cost 0 mana, and you're free to spam. (YAY! SPAM!)

Your passive is quite useful, 15% bonus MS in a brush for 2 seconds is huge at any point in the game. Abuse the movespeed bonus early so you can effectively trade with your lane opponents without taking much damage back. Keep control of brushes so you CAN abuse it.

Yes, Nidalee has a TON of options. Nidalee is awesome like that. Just please pick what YOU think you need, some of these you will rarely, if ever, use.

Oh, and you're support. You know what that means. Buy lots of:

For early game, I run standard . I then like to complete and grab . I then like to finish and get or , depending on what you need.

Mid game, I want to get my . After that, get any of the recommended items, depending on what you're building. I personally like as the next item, but if I want more damage, I can grab any of the listed items.

With Nidalee, you have a lot of freedom. Just be smart about what you pick, and don't be over-confident in your ability to nuke someone down.

Early game Nidalee pre-6 isn't great. If you start AD, then she does a good deal of AA damage, so abuse that along with your passive. If you plan on building AP, do your best to keep your AD carry alive, and try to pressure the other lane opponents. When you hit 6, you do a good amount of burst in cougar form, regardless of build. Try to coordinate a kill at level 6, you're almost guaranteed one. Make sure river/tri-brush/dragon stays warded, and keep your traps at choke points to sniff out a gank.

Mid Game

Mid game Nidalee is where her damage will peak (unless you're getting kills and building straight damage items). Keep all major objectives warded, make good use of your traps, and keep the pressure going in cougar form. You still do great damage, especially at level 11, where the base damages on cougar are great. If you built AP, your spears will start to hurt. Start spamming those. In teamfights, make sure you heal your AD carry/AD bruiser for the increased AS, it helps a lot.

Late Game

Late game Nidalee somewhat falls off. If you built AP, your spears should still hurt. Keep spamming those. If you built AD, you're more of a in-your-face champion that can take a few punches. Keep giving your AD carry/AD bruiser that AS bonus and keep all major objectives warded. With enough patience you should be able to coordinate nice burst damage. With Nidalee, teamwork is key. A poorly placed Nidalee in a teamfight results in a dead Nidalee. Also, its hard to catch someone out of position with Nidalee alone, which is why teamwork is key.

-Squish, for the most part (unless building tanky AD)
-Can't catch people out of position
-Requires to be in the middle of the fight to do burst damage from Cougar form
-High mana costs early
-Base heal amounts are weak
-Item dependent
-Can't stop divers
-KS's easily (Oh well, LOL)

...aaaaaaaand that's about it for support Nidalee. I play her often, and love building her different ways just to see what works. Good luck with the two-form support, Nidalee! (Protip: If you want to distract the enemy AD carry from CS'ing, type /d when you're next to him. Works like a charm.)

LeBlanc - the deceptive support

Background info

Ok, ok wait. You mean to tell me that LB can be played as a support? Are you nuts? To answer both questions, yes. LeBlanc's base damages are quite high, and the kill potential is HUGE once she hits level 3 and level 6. It may seem like a super-troll pick, but its one of the most fun champs I've ever played, similar to Veigar. With a silence, a chain, and a (double) dash, she's a force to be reckoned with.

For LeBlanc, you want full offense. You cannot afford to sit back idly like a "normal" support. You need to be proactive!

Because of my offensive playstyle, I like to take 21/9/0, with the 21 in offense all belonging to some sort of AP-related/damage-related boost.

Runes

Reds - OFFENSIVE! Take magic pen.!

Yellows - MORE OFFENSE! Take either mana regen or some flat AP or AP/lvl!

Blues - EVEN MORE OFFENSE! Take flat or AP/lvl.

Quints - OFFENSE ALL THE WAY! Take Flat AP.

*A word about my choices - with other supports you have a lot of options. With LeBlanc, your options are more limited, and I like to keep it that way. You want to be a super, super aggressive support that, when the chance arises, can burst down someone and set up a kill for yourself or the AD carry. Offense all the way. LeBlanc does not need any defense, as you won't be in the middle of any teamfights (hopefully).

Sigil of Silence - LeBlanc projects an orb towards her target, dealing magic damage and marking the target for 3.5 seconds. If the target takes damage from one of LeBlanc's abilities, the sigil will trigger, dealing damage and silencing the target.
LeBlanc projects an orb towards her target, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.6) magic damage and marking the target for 3.5 seconds.

If the target takes damage from one of LeBlanc's abilities, the mark will trigger, dealing 20/40/60/80/100 (+0.3) magic damage and silencing the target for 2 seconds.

This ability doesn't really "kick" in until you hit level 6. This ability has no skill shot, which is nice considering everything else is. I max this first and rely on proc'ing the silence to really dish out damage early/mid game. Hitting your skills is super-important when trying to burst down someone, obviously. The silence is pretty nice too.

Distortion - LeBlanc rapidly moves to a target location, dealing magic damage to nearby units. In the following 3 seconds, she can activate Distortion again to return to her starting location.
LeBlanc rapidly moves to a target location, dealing 85/125/165/205/245 (+0.6) magic damage to nearby units. In the following 3 seconds, she can activate Distortion again to return to her starting location.

The ability has multiple, great uses when it comes to playing support LeBlanc. Want to proc your Q to silence them? Want to facecheck a brush? Want to position yourself better to combo? This skill provides it all. However, it has a long CD, so please be wary of when its down! I max this skill second, getting a point in it at level 3.

Ethereal Chains - LeBlanc flings illusionary chains towards a target location. If it hits an enemy unit, it will deal initial magic damage and slow their movement speed by 25%. If the target remains shackled for 2 seconds, the target takes additional magic damage and is unable to move.
LeBlanc flings illusionary chains towards a target location. If it hits an enemy unit, it will deal 40/65/90/115/140 (+0.5) initial magic damage and slow their movement speed by 25%. If the target remains shackled for 2 seconds, the target takes an additional 40/65/90/115/140 (+0.5) magic damage and is unable to move for 1/1.3/1.6/1.9/2.2 second(s).

Your chains are more difficult to land than most people think. It's a single-line skillshot that requires a bit of patience to really master. The basic combo with your chain is you Q + W into them to silence them, then chain them. This way they can't flash/dash/anything away when you try to hit them with your chains. Your chains also have a long range to them, so you can stop ganks quite easily if you can land your E. I max this last, but get a point in it at level 2 (to stop early ganks).

Mimic - LeBlanc can cast a more potent version of the previous spell she cast.
LeBlanc can cast the previous spell she cast. The mimicked spell deals 10/25/40% increased damage.

Your ult is just a copy of whatever skill you used last. Obviously, get a point in this any time you can. Basic combo for using your Ult would be either to W + E them and then Q + R them, or Q + R then W + E.

Mirror Image - When LeBlanc drops below 40% health, she instantly becomes stealthed for half a second. When the stealth fades, she creates a Mirror Image that deals no damage and lasts for up to 8 seconds.

Mirror Image has a one minute cooldown.

This passive is something that has saved me on more than one occasion. Your mirror image makes you temporarily stealthed while deploying a clone that deals no damage. But, that clone has saved my life more than once. Don't rely on this skill to save you often, but it is nice when it does.

Your job is to prevent ganks and set up kills any time you can. With your basic level 3 combo, you can deal a little bit of damage and provide decent CC for your AD carry to follow up. Your true power is when you hit 6, so survive until then. Keep river/dragon warded and try to get your AD carry to farm safely. If you miss your combo when you attempt to go offensive, back off immediately. You do not want to linger around in dangerous territory early game.

Mid Game

You're at your strongest point here. With a DFG (eventually) and a decent amount of AP, you should be a formidable opponent. Keep all major buffs/objectives warded, and try to force a teamfight by grouping up and pushing. Your main goal should be to take out the squishiest person possible, such as the AD carry, AP mid, or support. Usually top lane/jungler are more tanky than the previous 3. Insta-gibbing the AD carry or AP carry as a teamfight breaks out is HUGE, which is what makes LB such a great support, because she can actually take OUT someone!

Late Game

Try to play safe and keep baron/dragon warded. If you can catch anyone out of position with your chains, go for it. You can literally change a game with them. Once again, aim for the squishiest target if you can. If you can't, do your best to protect the AD carry. Play late game very similar to mid game.

-Squishy
-Somewhat relies on a good early/mid game
-Skillshot reliant
-Clone does no damage (/sadface)
-Mana costs hurt early/mid game
-Cannot protect AD carry well
-Falls off hard late game if not fed
-KS's easily (OH WELL)

....that'll do it for support LeBlanc. I honestly learned how to play AP mid LB just from playing support, because I'm weird like that. Just learn to hit those combos, and support LB will shine! Enjoy the deceptive support, Leblanc! (Protip: If your passive gets proc'd in a bush and they can't see you, have your clone run the opposite direction and type in /all chat: "OH GOD NO." Works every time.)

WTF? 'X' champion isn't listed here? YOU SUCK!

I'm sorry I haven't typed up a chapter on the champion you wanted to see in a support role. I will be adding chapters as I see fit, and will take recommendations (assuming I can actually play the champ well)!

But please, if you have any recommendations that were not listed in this guide and are not on the 'upcoming champions' list, please feel free to tell me in the comments section!

Upcoming champions

The following is a list of champions that will appear in this guide after I get better with them. Seriously.

Galio

Kennen

Ryze

Fiddlesticks

Viktor

Pantheon (Or as I like to call him, Mantheon the Baker)

(I didn't include Blitzcrank for the sole reason that I am #1 worst player with him. Sorry!)

Final Comments

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my favorite unconventional support champions! The best way though, to get good at a champion, is to just play them over and over. Making mistakes is an important part to playing these champions, because learning from said mistakes only make you that much better of an aggressive/unconventional support.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns/complaints/trolling to do, feel free to do so in the comments section. Don't forget to recommend any champion not listed in this guide!

Have further questions? Just wanna be friends? IGN: Tehjman1993 (NA)

If you enjoyed the guide, please give it a big fat thumbs up. This took me about an hour for each chapter, not including video guides. (Video guides take an hour just to process, let alone commentate and review each game, etc.)

Changelog

3/11/12 - Released guide. There's bound to be a plethora of typos.
3/12/12 - Already found typos, and added a 'summoners' chapter.
3/16/12 - Nidalee chapter completed and added! Also, typos.
3/31/12 - Cleaned up GP chapter, and guide got approved! Thank you! (I apologize for the lack of a new champion chapter, I've had a ton of work. You'll see one very soon!)
4/13/12 - Happy late Easter! I revised Nunu section, and added LeBlanc support to the list of unconventional supports! Enjoy!
5/2/12 - It's been a while since I touched the guide, but after I get done my stuff this week I'll update at least one new champion to the list, with the possibility of a video coming out. Oh, and some typos fixed.

A while ago I was playing around with Jarvan support and it worked quite well especially at level 6 with a Graves with both ults and buckshot the damage is astounding. The E+Q passive combo is also quite painful and E provides armour and attack speed for your carry. Jungle ganks are also made easier because of knock up and arena as well as the slow on W. Not to mention it's also fun. :)

I dont think leona is unconventional support, but it's not like soraka(which probable can be picked with any ad carry). By the way add graves to "Goes great with..." list. Because leona + graves = awesome burst. Played with leona as a support 3 matches with graves. Graves got fed, because of the awesome burst(low elo ranked games). By the way you should test volibear as a support. I have seen people playing it and they did pretty good.

@Imeious Shaco is an incredibly hard support to play, believe it or not. It's quite difficult to force fights in brushes. Ganks are decent on Shaco, but you need to have successful ganks in order to keep up with the flow of the game. Idk about him, I'll consider it but I don't like the idea behind you.

@UnendingDream Thanks! And yes, be very afraid of LB support haha. Is there a way to link it so you can click to a specific chapter? I'm not a guide-making expert, so idk how to do that. Thanks for your support!

@Feraniel I don't like deathcap on support Nidalee, even if you are straight AP. Too squish and too expensive for a support. If you have enough for a deathcap, you're not even a support anymore. More like a nidalee that laned with some AD carry/support. Lol.

Cool, fun guide, love to try these out sometime. Very in-depth too :) Might want to make it so we can just click on the champion to go to them, since it takes a little while to find them because your guides are relatively long! Can't wait to be amazed (scared?) by LB support lol. I also used to watch your combat arms vids, those were fun :)

Try AP Shaco. It's the funniest support to play imo (havent played him in ranked tho, just normal games), and you can get your AD Carry fed with ease. Just make sure he builds a Wriggles so he can stand a 1v2 when you roam. Urgot-Shaco is a free kill at 6. If you get a couple early kills or assists, you'll snowball to complete domination botlane, which means you can keep doing ur job safely, ganking mid and even top, maybe the jungler.

Stack boxes and poke with Q-E. Pick up Kages Lucky Pick asap.

You can gank their jungler at lvl 1 stacking boxes, if u bring Exhaust or Ignite its almost always a kill. And fighting over your boxes will turn any teamfight.

You can also steal buffs easily, roam endlessly and fast and if u feel like u need an oracles you'll be a perfect ward-cleaner. E does tons of damage + slow, if you manage to fear them the box will do more damage than u can think of, and your clone hits hard as hell.

@Thunder_God Wow, I knew that :P (No seriously, I just worded it awfully. Thank you for catching that)

@Valkasha Idk about Garen ... I understand that he can get early kills but he needs to be paired up with someone that CAN stun to set up the kills for him, such as Taric/Alistar. Pairing him with an AD carry isn't a great idea :(